Don’t be dismayed by the headline. Given the math, confirmation’s a fait accompli; a no vote achieves nothing unless you’re a Republican from a red state up for reelection next year. Rather, appreciate his savvy in painting himself as fair-minded enough to vote for the other party’s nominee and then exploiting that fair-mindedness to feed the Democrats a crap sandwich for their treatment of Estrada and Obama a double-stuffed crap hoagie for his absurd no votes on Roberts and Alito. That was a recurring theme among GOP inquisitors this morning, with Graham landing the hardest shot (not seen here) when he accused The One of having opposed those two in a cynical attempt to appease the leftist base ahead of the 2008 Democratic primaries. Which, of course, is precisely what it was.

Note too his casual reference to the role of Supreme Court justices in “making policy.” I told you that was no big deal when she said it. Prediction: 75 votes.